In the last fifteen years, the per capita consumption of Italian style cheese has increased approximately tenfold. While there has been a significant increase in the consumption of traditional Italian style cheeses, such as romano, parmesan and ricotta, by far the most dramatic increase in United States consumption of Italian style cheese has been in connection with mozzarella. This has been due to the unusually rapid popularization of pizza in the United States. Mozzarella cheese is, by far, the most dominant cheese used in producing pizza, with provolone cheese constituting the next most significant pizza cheese.
The amount of other cheeses used in the production of pizza has been relatively insignificant compared with the amount of mozzarella cheese because of the unique stringy characteristic of heat plasticized mozzarella cheese. Other types of cheese cannot produce this same stringy effect, and the consuming public will not, generally, accept a cheeze pizza which does not exhibit the characteristic of stringiness. Additionally, the mozzarella cheese has a distinctive and relatively clear taste which cannot be duplicated by other cheeses. Just as important, the clear taste does not override the taste of spices and other flavors used in pizza preparation, as is the case in other cheeses which have stronger and more lingering flavors. For example, while cheddar cheese or provolone cheese can produce some stringiness in a heated pizza, the flavors of these cheeses so override the flavors of the pizza spices that the consuming public does not, generally, accept these cheeses as substitutes for mozzarella cheese.
The substantial increase in demand for mozzarella cheese has not only caused difficulties in obtaining predictable supplies thereof, but has significantly increased the cost of the mozzarella cheese. In view thereof, the art has sought means for supplementing or extending (or indeed replacing) the mozzarella cheese used in pizza production wherein the desired characteristics of the mozzarella cheese, as discussed above, are preserved. However, these efforts have met with only partial success. Such supplements or extenders have not been able to accurately reproduce the stringy characteristic of mozzarella cheese and/or they have undesired flavors. Additionally, since the relatively bland and clear flavor of mozzarella cheese has not been accurately reproduced, the supplements or extenders often either mask the pizza spice flavors or overwhelm the mozzarella cheese flavor.
A primary difficulty in providing acceptable cheese extenders resides in the unavailability of a relatively low cost protein source, but which protein source has a relatively bland and clear taste. Protein is generally necessary in acceptable cheese extenders in order to provide the basic background taste and consistency associated with the protein content of cheese. Caseinates are widely used as a protein source in foodstuffs.
Caseinates are generally recognized as the product produced by precipitating protein from milk or milk products with acids to produce acid casein and then at least partially neutralizing the acid casein with an alkali. The so-produced product is conventionally referred to as the caseinate of the corresponding alkali. The acid casein may be precipitated with or without the acid of a milk clothing enzyme, e.g., a rennet enzyme. For example, the acid casein may be produced by adding lactic acid to milk or milk fractions, or lactic acid may be produced in situ from organisms grown therein, and the corresponding lactic casein will precipitate. Alternately, a mineral acid, such as hydrochloric acid, may be added to the milk or milk fraction to precipitate the acid casein. The acid casein is then conventionally treated with sodium hydroxide to form sodium caseinate.
Both acid casein and the sodium caseinate contain over 90% protein and, thus, can function as a protein source. However, acid casein has a relatively unpleasant "acid" taste and can be used in food-stuffs in only relatively small proportions. On the other hand, while sodium caseinate does not have the unpleasant acid taste, it has a relatively unpleasant consistency in the mouth (referred to as mouth-feel), i.e., a somewhat soapy mouth-feel. In view thereof, the amount of acid casein which may be acceptably added to foodstuffs is considerably limited and only about 5% of sodium caseinate may be acceptably used since otherwise the unpleasant mouth-feel will adversely affect consumer acceptance of the foodstuff.
In co-pending applications Ser. Nos. 276,168 and 276,169, both filed on July 28, 1972, processes are described for improving the blandness of caseinates. In one process, sodium caseinate is slowly heated with a salt such as magnesium chloride and in the other process, the caseinate is rapidly mixed with a hot solution of the salt. In copending application Ser. No. 455,511, filed on Mar. 27, 1974, casein granules are treated with a magnesium base. The first two of these processes do considerably improve the blandness of the caseinates and allow the use thereof in very substantial quantities in foodstuffs. The third of these processes produces a product which may be referred to as magnesium caseinate. Caseinates produced by the first two processes, while being exceptionally bland, do retain the characteristic consistency of the caseinate. Thus, while the sodium caseinate produced is most bland, it still produces the undesirable soapy mouth-feel, and again, the amounts which may be used in foodstuffs of even the bland sodium caseinates is limited, where that soapy mouth-feel can be detected in the food composition.
The magnesium caseinate prepared according to the aforementioned application, was discovered to have unusual properties, among which allowed the use thereof in producing a novel cheese extender. Additionally, the magnesium caseinate could be combined with potassium caseinate and still obtain acceptable results. It was further discovered that even potassium caseinate provided a superior extender, as compared with sodium caseinate and calcium caseinate. These extenders are described in co-pending application Ser. No. 455,510, filed on Mar. 27, 1974.
The disclosures of all of the aforementioned applications are incorporated herein by reference and relied upon for their disclosures.
While the cheese extenders of the above-identified application provide exceptionally good results, they do suffer from economic difficulties. Neither magnesium caseinate nor potassium caseinate is available in commercial quantities. Thus, those caseinates must be specially produced and limited productions thereof, of course, increase the unit cost of the caseinates used in the cheese extender and, hence, the cost of the cheese extender itself. Additionally, magnesium caseinate is not a presently approved caseinate for human consumption, although all evidence points to the total acceptability thereof. Further, when potassium caseinate is used as the cheese extender, while the resulting extender is far superior to an extender based on either sodium caseinate or calcium caseinate, the extender is clearly inferior to that based on magnesium caseinate or a combination of magnesium caseinate and potassium caseinate. Accordingly, the superior extenders all require the presence of magnesium caseinate, which causes the economic difficulties noted above.
For the foregoing reasons, it would be advantageous to provide a cheese extender or supplement for mozzarella cheese which preserves the essential appearance, texture and character of mozzarella cheese, but which does not adversely affect the flavor of pizza produced therefrom and which does not have the economic disadvantages noted above.